Mufoto 2012 - The building of a community hall

Mulanje Mission School
is a rural secondary school in Mulanje, Malawi. The town of Mulanje is
in the south of Malawi close to the Mozambique border, near the cities
of Zomba and Blantyre. Mulanje is accessible by road from both cities
and also from the Mozambique border at the Thomwood/Milange crossing or
through the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve.

Over the duration
of the Mulanje-Fortrose link a further development plan was
developed by Alasdair Nelson (Business Development Manager – Mott
MacDonald) - to design and build a community hall within the school grounds. To
facilitate this Alasdair approached a group of interested engineers who
where looking for a project to ‘take on’ as part of the Engineers Without Borders EWB-UK
Highland Network. There were a number of other projects (such as additional
school buildings and alternative utility supply methods (power, water,
sanitation)) which could have been undertaken dependant but the hall was chosen as high priority. Mott MacDonald, EWB-UK Scotland Professional Network and
Koru were all interested in being involved with the project.

EWB-UK became the design
and construction management partners and became involved with fundraising, in
conjunction with Fortrose Academy. This led to the EWB group
designing the community Hall along with looking into the possibility of
sourcing renewable energy and an improved water supply for the school.
Drawings of the community hall can be seen below. Click on a drawing to see a larger version of the picture.

2013 UPDATE: Since completion of the hall the school has purchased 100 chairs (estimated capacity is for a further 300) and are saving up to purchase audio-visual equipment for school and community purposes. It is also hoped that changing rooms and toilets will be added, to further develop the functions of the hall. This is something that Linda's fund might well be involved with in the future, should funds permit.